I'm Officially 24!

Melvin's 24h Birthday Speech 2012
Hello Everyone,

I celebrated my 24th birthday 2 days ago and truly, I felt that this year seems to go by faster than the past year. I guess that is most probably because I am counting down till the day I ORD from NS! Well, this year's birthday celebration was an awesome one and truly, I feel really blessed and thankful for the amazing showers of blessings that kept pouring in.

Firstly, I want to thank God for seeing me through the tough and difficult time in the past year. To be honest, there were many times I felt that I've let God down but truly, God always keeps His promises as mentioned in Hebrews 13:5 that "For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." This assurance from God tells me that no matter what difficult circumstances I am going through, God will always be there rooting for me. Also, I have witnessed firsthand the wonder-working miracles of God in my family and I really believe with all my heart that a mighty breakthrough is coming. God is good all the time and all the time, God is good!

Secondly, I want to thank my Baby, family members, and relatives for giving me such an awesome birthday celebration this year. In fact, just last Saturday, the whole family celebrated my birthday, my mum's birthday, my uncle's birthday, and my aunt's birthday at an Italian restaurant situated at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Well, the atmosphere at Casa Verde [the name of the Italian restaurant] was scenic and pleasant but because we dined at the alfresco area, it was pretty hot.

Overall, the dining experience at Casa Verde was not too bad. The food was so-so but we felt that the service staff could have improved more on their level of service. Nonetheless, we had an enjoyable time learning how to make Italian Pizzas from the Chefs in the kitchen.

Thirdly, I want to thank my amazing Cellgroup Members whom celebrated my birthday with me last Friday night, right after cellgroup meeting. In total, there were 14 of us and it was definitely an unforgettable experience. Ming Wei [my cellgroup friend] suggested to go prawning at Bishan and Baby and I were quite eager to go as we haven't been prawning for quite a long while already. When we arrived at the Bishan prawning area at around half past midnight, the place was packed with people and we decided to head down to Punggol prawning area instead. For those whom prawns quite frequently, you might be aware that there are 3 prawning areas in Punggol [one near Popeye's, one near the Golf Course, and one near the Country Club]. As the prawning area at Popeye's was extremely packed, we went down to the prawning area near the Golf Course instead.

Well, barely half an hour into prawning, the rain started to pour so heavily that we were inevitably caught in the middle of a storm. Moreover, the shelters at the prawning area were leaking with rainwater and the whole scene looked as if we were filming for some "end of the world" movie. While it was raining, we guys were still unrelenting and we cast our rods into the water in hope of catching some prawns. But well, heaven wasn't on our side and we decided to claim back our remaining hours and visit the next time.

Though it was freezing cold with the wind constantly blowing at us, it just didn't dampen our spirits.

I really am thankful to the many cellgroup members whom were with me all the way till 4.30am in the morning just to celebrate my birthday with me. I really feel loved and really, it is not about the presents and gifts I receive during my birthday but rather, what I cherish the most is the time that we can spend together as a tightly-knitted group of friends. This quality time is indeed priceless.

Well, after attending the Church service on Sunday at Riverlife Church, I felt a prompting to change and upgrade my guitar to a higher range. And so, with Baby, we visited the Swee Lee showroom at Bras Basah to try out some of their guitars and while the price seemed quite a great catch, I decided against it.

This Epiphone was selling at a 60% discount and its initial price was like $1600+! But well, the quality wasn't that fantastic as I noticed some chips here and there.

A little sidetrack here, currently, I am using a Yamaha CPX 700 and I have plans to change to a PRS SE Angelus guitar that sells for about $880. So, I am officially putting up my Yamaha CPX 700 (Natural Colour) for sale. If you know of anyone whom is interested to own a Yamaha CPX 700, please feel free to drop me an email at melvin.ocs@gmail.com The condition of my Yamaha CPX 700 is 9.5/10! You got to see it for yourself in order to believe my words. By the way, I am selling my Yamaha CPX 700 for $600 and its retail price is $835.

Ok, so back to my birthday. As I was given "birthday off" by my superior, I spent the entire day going out with my mum. Never did I know, Baby surprised me when she called me to say that she was outside my house and gave me a beary cute box.

Alright, for those of you whom frequents our blog. Most of the photos we put up were taken using the iPhone 4 camera. While we really enjoyed taking photos with the iPhone 4 camera, there were times that we weren't able to capture clear images because of lighting and exposure. As Baby felt that our blog can do with better photos, she decided to get me a Canon Powershot S100 Camera and we both can use it together as well.

After the surprise, I was physically drained out and went on to take a nap. And unknowingly, Baby stealthily took a picture of me sleeping on Greygrey [well, she insisted on putting this photo up on Facebook so to satisfy her cheekiness, I self-volunteer to put this up on our blog instead].

Overall, we found the food quality to be excellent. However, the portion/serving size was quite small and the price were quite steep for such a small serving size. Service definitely needs some improvement. And so, that's how my birthday went over the past week.

Last but not the least, I also want to take this opportunity to thank all those whom wished me "Happy Birthday" over Facebook. There were more than 130 people [not that I was so free to count but Facebook did the job for me] whom posted on my Facebook Timeline so it's really tough for me to list down each and every single name here but I believe you guys and gals know who you are. Thank you all for your well-wishes and blessings. In fact, I am really glad that I wasn't forgotten. Whether you're my childhood friend, former school mates, former CCA mates, former colleagues, relatives from Malaysia and England, NS mates, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Well, now that I have grown a year older, the way I think, say, and do will not be the same as what I have thought, said, and done in the past. While celebrating birthdays is a yearly affair for me, I daresay that birthdays are not just about receiving presents and blessings. But rather, birthdays are special events that brings people closer together to celebrate not just the coming of age of an individual but rather also, to acknowledge the presence and existence of the individual. Personally, after ORD, there are many opportunities waiting for me. Hence, my prayer for this year is that the LORD will direct my path and lead me to the purpose that He has called me for. Also, I am truly blessed to have Baby by my side. If not for all her sacrifices and love, this birthday celebration wouldn't have been a complete one.